The recent earthquake in the Sichuan province of China has been very devastating. Thousands of people lost their lives and the terrain has been mauled beyond any recognition. Rivers have changed course and dams have burst. Chinese army is struggling with a war like situation in peaceful times with no conventional enemy in sight. In many places damaged dams are being exploded with ammunition for avoiding greater catastrophes. Thousands of people have been rendered homeless in a country that is considered one of the galloping nations in the global development race. Once again, natural warnings are addressed to those who tend to take Nature for granted while charting out fast track courses for development. And the more divorced one is from natural logic the more severe would be the punishment.
In the all pervading trauma that follows any earthquake there are so many subtle aftershocks that can miss our notice. The devastating earthquake has exposed many basic errors in the social development measures that Chinese had highlighted to the whole world as their own unique ones, impossible for any others to imitate. There is no doubt that China is a special country and they have tremendous advantages as a nation with predominantly one race, one language and one religion. Yet when it comes to translating developmental goals into action in terms of reforms in the society the straight jacket systems can develop chinks. Disciplined people too can come across totally unexpected obstacles while working towards goals set up by their masters. The earthquake scenario in China has thrown up many such situations and we should take note of them for avoiding the same mistakes.
Single Child
One of the sad and striking stories that have emerged from the earthquake scene is about the number of Chinese villages that will be ‘people-less’ after a few years. Several schools have been destroyed and with them the single child from most of the households. It is now too late for many of the couples to compensate for their losses. They are proud citizens who were earnestly participating in the fast track growth of their nation. But suddenly they are at crossroads with nothing to look forward to. Nobody will take care of them in their old age and all their sacrifices are in vain. They heeded to the dictates of a tough regime for accelerating national progress but now they themselves have no future. Raw logic of economics and development has ruined their lives forever. They do not have anything left in this life and many do not believe in rebirths either.
China’s single child policy has been lauded by many as something that only Chinese could decide and implement. Population control is a must for accelerating the progress of any country and it is all the more important for overloaded ones like China and India. Yet when an ‘over-democratic’ country like India attempted to implement their two-child family planning program it was cleverly sabotaged by the organized communities. External and internal agencies worked overtime to use it as an opportunity to cheat the majority and accelerate their own population growth. Enough is enough and now India must learn from catastrophe in their neighborhoods. India must say good-bye to its two-child norm and relieve the majority community from the state-induced inhibition towards larger families. The Indian majority must multiply at a higher rate for the betterment of India in every sense.
Ubiquitous Dams
Building dams anywhere and everywhere is an easy option for irrigating an ever increasing requirement of agricultural land. Unlike in India, where each dam-building project is preceded by reasonable & unreasonable objections and intimidating mass movements, it is a much easier exercise to construct dams wherever required in China which is disciplined and under a strict dictatorial regime. The umpteen number of small, medium and massive dams in every province of China is a proof of this. Environmental and ecological impact assessments are not an essential step in their decision making process. The one and only objective is development for the Chinese nation and for Chinese people. And now we know what happens when the natural terrain is mutilated without any consideration for the sake of development. The natural reaction can be much more devastating than any terrorist attack.
A damaged dam is a much greater threat to the nearby areas than any river in full flood. Chinese army is working in full steam to demolish such damaged dams in dozens. And each demolished dam will give rise to a whole lot of new problems. The flow of river will take newer paths that will call for more rehabilitation of affected people. Thus thousands of people have been rendered homeless by the careless logic of ubiquitous irrigation dams and the entire advantage has been wiped out by one earthquake. It is true that China could meet the food requirement of their massive population much easier than India, but the way they have chosen is now questionable. Natural flow of rivers cannot be hampered just for the sake of irrigating more and more lands for food.
The overall message is now loud and clear. Natural resources, natural patterns and natural logic cannot be tampered with merely for achieving material progress and development. Due consideration has to be given to everything that is related to a natural system or process while attempting to harness it for unintended purposes. Population growth and food production are just two of those natural processes that cannot be manipulated with limited objectives. Nature has its own ways to limit the population and provide food for them. Man-made governments must design their national objectives in line with the natural objectives. And not only the two objectives must match but also the government measures must be subservient to those of the all powerful Nature. No ‘undefinism’ (http://www.pseudodictionary.com/undefinism) can ever overtake the natural pace of development and progress. Any apparent acceleration will always get corrected and that too in very violent fashions. India’s planners must learn from the social aftershocks of Chinese earthquakes.
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature. Show all posts
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Maaya & Daiva
Maaya and Daiva are two unique Indian concepts that have not yet been fully appreciated by the world. Both offer brilliant explanations about mysteries that engross everything in this universe. While maaya demystifies the apparent reality that surrounds us, daiva helps us in living with an uncertain future. Indian philosophers had propounded these theories thousands of years ago, but ordinary Indians are still struggling to comprehend them. What should have been an integral and uncontroversial part of our curriculum is deliberately kept out just to satisfy the false (pseudo)secular credentials. And instead we force ourselves to study every other theory that has drifted into our landscape from alien lands. Most of us have even lost the natural inquisitiveness of normal human beings to understand what is one’s own.
Nature and future are two indispensable components in everyone’s life. Together they provide the environment and incentive to live on. Ancient seers of India had succeeded to a great extent in explaining the philosophical aspects of these concepts to the ordinary folks then. Daiva and Maaya are the key components of their explanations in this regard. Whatever we consider as real is indeed maaya and whatever is unknown with regard to the future are revered in the form of daiva. The interpretations of daiva as various forms of the unique God (Ishwar) and maaya as a notion that we perceive as real can be considered as the best available treatises that can explain anything to a modern rational man. If everyone can get a chance to learn about these vital irreligious aspects in India today, there will be much more vigor and vitality in our society instead of rivalry and hatred.
Unknown Nature
As infinitesimal part of this universe we are deeply immersed in the happenings around us and we live on with the belief that it is all for real. But we can easily understand that it is not so when we consider our experience while waking up from a dream. If it was a sweet one we feel sorry about being woken up and if it was horrible we feel thankful. Be it a dream or otherwise, it is our very same self that has experienced it. Similarly is the vast difference in our perception when we consider someone as a suspected terrorist and he finally turns out to be a pious and religious man. There are several more instances where this same nature of experience can be perceived for totally different realities. And then drugs, magic and special effects can also produce such similar experience on a human as compared to whatever we normally consider as real. So what is the sanctity of considering anything as real? A more logical perception is to take everything as unreal. And that was what our forefathers considered as maaya.
Our whole perception about this universe is only a maaya and each of us interprets it the way we want or understand. And there cannot be anything for real in a world where each and every one of us is enveloped in maaya. Adi Sankara was only stating the obvious when he propounded the theory of maaya. It is not difficult for any ordinary man to understand this but it will be extremely difficult to admit it so. The Western concept of ‘seeing is believing’ is an absurdity that has become a belief. The effect of maaya is so much that anyone who can develop the capability to dismiss the mundane problems as being part of maaya will be considered as insane and not wise. But even a convinced understanding of the truth about maaya in everyone’s mind can go a long way in raising the overall tolerance level in our society and nation. We can appreciate and tolerate each other much better if we have a common understanding about the unreality that surrounds us.
Unknown Future
More interesting than an unrealistic nature that surrounds us is the unknown future that awaits us. In many ways it is the uncertainty and anonymity about our future that drives us towards an omnipotent and omnipresent God. If there are ways to gain sure knowledge about future, almost all our temples, churches and mosques will be empty. Ancient seers of India propounded the concept of daiva precisely on this basis of uncertain future. As the Sanskrit term indicates Daiva means destiny or destination or simple future for every single entity in this universe. Howsoever significant or insignificant, all entities (animate or inanimate) have a specific purpose of being present in this universe. Being alive and evolved, humans indulge in the added task of seeking their destiny. The close relationship that exists in India between daiva (as destiny) and daiva (as a form of God) becomes relevant in this respect.
The basis of all religious beliefs is the fear or respect for the unknown. Each and every moment in our lives is pregnant with any number of possibilities, all of them uncertain. For a human being, it can be glory, luck, death, bankruptcy, defamation, starvation and what not. The priorities, importance and response to each of this can vary between individuals, depending upon his likings, age, status and background. Surrender and prayers being natural for any unsure individual in an uncertain environment, what is wrong in attributing separate forms of God for each of this unknown possibilities and worshipping with hope of getting the best? Such compartmentalization can provide better focus and intensity for the believers and their beliefs. In fact the glorious belief of a triumvirate of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh providing overall controls over Creation-Sustenance-Destruction in this universe provides the most comforting picture for all the rationally religious humans.
Contribution of India’s ancient seers to the commonwealth of human knowledge is virtually unparalleled and unrivalled. Maaya and daiva are just two of those that have not caught much attention of the philosophers outside India. As always it is left to those outside India to discover and develop the wisdom pearls of ancient India for the progress of mankind. While pseudo-secularism and lack of positive nationalism are preventing Indians from re-discovering their own glorious heritage, professionals abroad are grabbing and borrowing from the endless storehouse of Sanatana Dharma for development and progress of their own countries. As unlucky giants of virtue, Indians are in deep slumber, unable to recover from the damages inflicted by unworthy Brahmin and foreign rulers.
Nature and future are two indispensable components in everyone’s life. Together they provide the environment and incentive to live on. Ancient seers of India had succeeded to a great extent in explaining the philosophical aspects of these concepts to the ordinary folks then. Daiva and Maaya are the key components of their explanations in this regard. Whatever we consider as real is indeed maaya and whatever is unknown with regard to the future are revered in the form of daiva. The interpretations of daiva as various forms of the unique God (Ishwar) and maaya as a notion that we perceive as real can be considered as the best available treatises that can explain anything to a modern rational man. If everyone can get a chance to learn about these vital irreligious aspects in India today, there will be much more vigor and vitality in our society instead of rivalry and hatred.
Unknown Nature
As infinitesimal part of this universe we are deeply immersed in the happenings around us and we live on with the belief that it is all for real. But we can easily understand that it is not so when we consider our experience while waking up from a dream. If it was a sweet one we feel sorry about being woken up and if it was horrible we feel thankful. Be it a dream or otherwise, it is our very same self that has experienced it. Similarly is the vast difference in our perception when we consider someone as a suspected terrorist and he finally turns out to be a pious and religious man. There are several more instances where this same nature of experience can be perceived for totally different realities. And then drugs, magic and special effects can also produce such similar experience on a human as compared to whatever we normally consider as real. So what is the sanctity of considering anything as real? A more logical perception is to take everything as unreal. And that was what our forefathers considered as maaya.
Our whole perception about this universe is only a maaya and each of us interprets it the way we want or understand. And there cannot be anything for real in a world where each and every one of us is enveloped in maaya. Adi Sankara was only stating the obvious when he propounded the theory of maaya. It is not difficult for any ordinary man to understand this but it will be extremely difficult to admit it so. The Western concept of ‘seeing is believing’ is an absurdity that has become a belief. The effect of maaya is so much that anyone who can develop the capability to dismiss the mundane problems as being part of maaya will be considered as insane and not wise. But even a convinced understanding of the truth about maaya in everyone’s mind can go a long way in raising the overall tolerance level in our society and nation. We can appreciate and tolerate each other much better if we have a common understanding about the unreality that surrounds us.
Unknown Future
More interesting than an unrealistic nature that surrounds us is the unknown future that awaits us. In many ways it is the uncertainty and anonymity about our future that drives us towards an omnipotent and omnipresent God. If there are ways to gain sure knowledge about future, almost all our temples, churches and mosques will be empty. Ancient seers of India propounded the concept of daiva precisely on this basis of uncertain future. As the Sanskrit term indicates Daiva means destiny or destination or simple future for every single entity in this universe. Howsoever significant or insignificant, all entities (animate or inanimate) have a specific purpose of being present in this universe. Being alive and evolved, humans indulge in the added task of seeking their destiny. The close relationship that exists in India between daiva (as destiny) and daiva (as a form of God) becomes relevant in this respect.
The basis of all religious beliefs is the fear or respect for the unknown. Each and every moment in our lives is pregnant with any number of possibilities, all of them uncertain. For a human being, it can be glory, luck, death, bankruptcy, defamation, starvation and what not. The priorities, importance and response to each of this can vary between individuals, depending upon his likings, age, status and background. Surrender and prayers being natural for any unsure individual in an uncertain environment, what is wrong in attributing separate forms of God for each of this unknown possibilities and worshipping with hope of getting the best? Such compartmentalization can provide better focus and intensity for the believers and their beliefs. In fact the glorious belief of a triumvirate of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh providing overall controls over Creation-Sustenance-Destruction in this universe provides the most comforting picture for all the rationally religious humans.
Contribution of India’s ancient seers to the commonwealth of human knowledge is virtually unparalleled and unrivalled. Maaya and daiva are just two of those that have not caught much attention of the philosophers outside India. As always it is left to those outside India to discover and develop the wisdom pearls of ancient India for the progress of mankind. While pseudo-secularism and lack of positive nationalism are preventing Indians from re-discovering their own glorious heritage, professionals abroad are grabbing and borrowing from the endless storehouse of Sanatana Dharma for development and progress of their own countries. As unlucky giants of virtue, Indians are in deep slumber, unable to recover from the damages inflicted by unworthy Brahmin and foreign rulers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)